"A boardroom battle is shaping up at Waste Management...over a question
that is straightforward but seldom asked in corporate America: If a chief
executive presides over disaster at the company he runs, should his
personal fortune be at risk?"
"In a highly unusual move that hasn't been made public, Waste
Management's board is refusing to pay out about $30 million iin pension
money and deferred compensation due its retired chairman and chief
executive officer, Dean L Buntrock, and other former executives.
"The action stems from an accounting scandal that cost the company7
$3.5 billion in charges to earnings and other adjustments. That weakened
the company, and it merged last year with another big trash hauler, USA
Waste Services...
"...
"...[B]eginning in 1991, Waste Management began using various
accoutning adjustments...That change had the effect of propping up profits
even as the waste industry went into a deep slump....[T]he accounting
adjustments...provided $112 million, or 11% of 1991 pretax profit, and the
adjustments ballooned to $462 million, or about 44% of 1996 pretax
profits...."
____________________________________
Peter Anderson
RecycleWorlds Consulting
4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com